Stopping light all optically

Phys Rev Lett. 2004 Feb 27;92(8):083901. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.92.083901. Epub 2004 Feb 25.

Abstract

We show that light pulses can be stopped and stored coherently, with an all-optical adiabatic and reversible pulse bandwidth compression process. Such a process overcomes the fundamental bandwidth-delay constraint in optics and can generate arbitrarily small group velocities for any light pulse with a given bandwidth, without any coherent or resonant light-matter interactions. We exhibit this process in optical resonators, where the bandwidth compression is accomplished only by small refractive-index modulations performed at moderate speeds.